Travell's face reassumed its habitual arrogant expression as Taft acknowledged some of the chatter coming over his radio. It wouldn't do to show weakness in front of the Tau'ri, even though the Tollan people were in the weakest position possible, and relying on the help and goodwill of an inferior race.

The arrogance disappeared as soon as Taft explained the level of medical assistance they they could expect to arrive with the fire team. "I fear it is not enough," she admitted. "What you see here is but a small number of those who are injured. We... we had expected a team of your doctors and nurses, a team who could..." Her voice became choked as she considered the impact to her people. "We have lost many people of import in this attack. These children..." She waved a hand at the compound, such as it was. "These are among our best and brightest, and represent the greatest opportunity of rebuilding our society."

It was clear that the attacks had been devastating, and Travell's eyes were bleak. "How long will your medical personnel be able to remain with us?"

The colour drained out of Travell's face at the question about the enemy. "None," she admitted. "They seem to be able to disappear from sight at will. We have not yet identified a way to either prevent this happening, or to be able to see them once they have disappeared."

-------------------------------------------------------

The body underneath the sheet was almost icy cold, its skin holding the blue tinge that only came with death itself. It was obvious that he - it was a young man, in his early twenties - had been dead for several hours. Aside from dark bruises across the man's torso and upper arms, however, there was no indication how he had died.

If Tahirah was watching very, very closely, she would have noticed a faint rippling underneath the man's left eyelid.

Taft nodded. There wasn't much to say to make the woman feel better. It was a bad situation. "Once they are coming through I can give that report to my superiors, get things under way to get you the medical assistance you need. We couldn't do that without getting eyes on the situation and soldiers on the ground to protect our much softer and more technically skilled physicians. It's a process." He checked his watch and grunted, he should have been hearing from the SGC just about then. Another few seconds was nothing to worry about. "Children always are, all potential and never a thought of war." Childish malice was of the personal variety, much easier to structure constructively.

"That's for the higher ups to decide, but our tendency is to stay until everyone who's gonna die is well and truly dead. All the chickens will be shook, all the rattles rattled, and all the boo boos kissed, I assure you." He checked his watch again as the radio guy started getting a bit of promising squelch out of the communications device.

Then he processed the bad news, no guarantee these enemies could be effected. Meant they might be more than just invisible, which was a level of over complication that Taft just didn't want in his life. "We'll have to hope they've moved on, or that my people can remedy the lack of dead foes. Wouldn't mind dissecting a few I think. However, you do need to start consolidating. Things are easier to make happen and defend if we can get all of our eggs in one basket. When was the last time the command structure was whole? When was the last recorded contact with the enemy?"

Tahirah's lips compressed into a thin line. The soldier beneath this blanket was older than those guarding the gates, but just barely. If the Tollan militia had been reduced to such children, they were going to need the SCG's help to rebuild. Once news reached the Goa'uld that the mighty Tollan Empire was in such a state, she had no doubt the vultures would start circling. She would make sure to voice her recommendations to the General when she returned to the mountain.

The victims skin was pale with death, in the normal blue-grey shade. Any odd tint may have indicated a poisoning, more than usual discoloration of the lips may have indicated suffocation. He had none of these. The patterns of dark bruises on his chest gave no indication of weapon type, though the lack of abrasion at what should have been point of impact struck her has odd. A blow that hard would have traumatized the surface skin as well as the flesh below. For such trauma to be absent, the victim would have had to have been wearing armor of some sort. Yet she knew that the standard Tollan uniform included no such thing, nor did she see any about. In fact she could see no definitive cause of death.

Tahirah reached forward to examine the victim's head, when a slight movement beneath his eyelid caught her attention. It was far too soon for Aff to have seeded the corpse, and they preferred open orifices. Curiosity urged her to peel back the lid, but caution held her hand. What if what caused this damage came from the inside? It would not be the first time some biological had been discovered, or engineered, to be used as a weapon. If this was the case she had no idea how the biologic spread.

Patting down her many pockets, Tahraih was relived to remember she had tucked extra medical supplies in there. While she doubted the thin gloves would protect her, she put them on anyhow. She emptied out a small clear bottle, dumping the pills in a separate pocket. Rinsing it out with liquid from a bottle marked 'eyewash', she set it aside on a piece of bandage. Next to that she set a pair of tweezers.

Now came the tricky part. If she were to hit the corpse with a zat'nikatel blast, the theory was that it would stun whatever was alive within. That was the preferred outcome. There was also a chance, because the corpse was deceased tissue, that the blast would disintegrate the corpse hopefully leaving a stunned biologic behind. That too would be acceptable. Or the biologic could not be effected by the blast at all... well she would just have to deal with that.

Tahirah unholstered her Zat, prepared to move quickly. She knew the sound would draw attention and she hoped to have results before someone took offense at her desecrating their dead.

Caleb had reached the rest of the team once more back at the start of the compound they seemed to be now staying in. He had left the child back there, he knew that moving them would make anything worse and he knew that the doctors with them would go over to investigate as soon as they could.

He hated that he had to wait around to see what would happen next, to ponder if the invisible enemy was going to jump out and attack whilst they were all stood around 'chatting' to each other. It was frustrating to know that although not as advanced as the Tollan's they could help, it was just how did they help.

Caleb caught Claire's eye as she asked him the question about the child, he wanted to smile to try to be reassuring, that was the partner side of him talking though, he had to remain professional and although he knew Claire would be able to read it in his eyes that he was feeling kind of helpless on this mission and wanted to do more, he just answered with, "From what knowledge of medicine I have, they've stopped bleeding, I've bandaged them up, he still alive. On the scale, about 6." That was being generous though, he wanted everyone to get help, as much as the five of them could help.

He caught the tail end of from what he could tell a very higher up person was saying to Taft. He didn't want to interrupt, to just add more unhelpfulness to the conversation, but the frustration was beginning to bubble in him now. The Tollan's had such power at their disposal, yet he knew - from what he had been told in his year the SGC - that they didn't use it unless absolute necessary.

Well if he was any kind of genius he would say it was necessary, he held in the words that he wanted to say to them, that they could have prevented it all, he knew that wasn't fair. No one could actually see an invisible enemy, and he knew it wasn't fair to blame them.

"Excuse me, sir, the hole has been covered up at the back, no one is getting in that way any time soon," he said interrupting the conversation between Taft and the Tollana person he hadn't caught the name of, he also couldn't listen to the Tollan person complain that they needed more medical personnel there. "Is there anything else that needs to be looked at?" he asked, he wanted to be as helpful as possible. But with an invisible enemy he also did not want to be straying off too far now.

She fought the urge to exhale all in one rush, knowing that even a small non-verbal gesture like that could indicate an uncertainty that the child, and those observing the two women didn’t need to see. Instead she controlled her breath, and instead nodded as she prepared herself for the long hours ahead. The operation wasn’t small, it wasn’t short, and it was messy and complicated, but Mere had faith in the abilities of all involved.

“Yeah – Not all too often, but enough to be know the ropes” Scanning the third row of cots, most of which were thankfully empty or being used as storage, or perches for the walking wounded, Mere tried to work out the feasibility or setting up a make shift operating theatre away from the scared survivors

“I’m thinking that we can use that area over there – stack a few crates and string a curtain best was can – I can go ahead and get to work on that if you want to check over Williams rescue?”Mere knew that either of them could go check out the rescued boy, but truth was that she wanted the physical task of clearing and set up so that she had a reason to get a little physical. The situation was high tension, and the presence of so much stimuli was like a constant source of food to the adrenaline she knew she’d be relying on to keep her going through the mission. Working some of it off would focus her, keep her steady and of best use to the Doc.

Moving off towards the area she’d indicated, Mere offered a smile to the Tollans she passed who met her eye and dropped her pack down to the left of one of the larger crates she knew housed some of the equipment they had bought with them. Unencumbered by the pack she moved two of the bunks to one side, and propped a third up atop two stools that had evidently been pulled from the nearby buildings. It would do for raising the bunk to an easier height for the work that needed doing, and moving out of the immediate vicinity, Mere searched for a pole or something to hang a blanket from to shield the table from view.

A single shot rung out, the sound all too familiar, and launching forward from her little corner, Mere grabbed her P90 and tabbed her radio “Tahirah – Status?” Moving towards the area she’d heard the shot echo out from, Mere scanned above the heads of the alarmed Tollans for the familiar sight of her teammate, praying that the shot wasn’t an indication of another wave of attack.

If Claire had been able to assemble a medical team of her own, an anaesthetist would have been high on her list of priorities. However, that hadn't been an option. It was something that she would feed back, though. The scant information that they had been given had indicated that many children had been seriously injured, and, as such, Claire had felt that more provision should have been made for medics. It turned out that she had been right, but she couldn't dwell on that now.

Now, the kids needed her skill and her focus.

While she appreciated Blake's honesty about her level of skill in field anaesthesia, she was a little surprised at the medic's offer to set up a basic area for operating on the boy. It was possibly something that one of the other soldiers was more suited to, especially seeing as there were still many children who needed to be triaged. However, the boy had to be a priority, and Claire nodded. "Thanks," she said, the tiniest hint of a smile on her lips. "If you can get set up, please, you should find some useful bits and pieces in the crates." There was as much packed as she could manage to create a field operating facility, and she had to hope that there was enough.

Claire glanced over to where Caleb had left the little girl he had rescued. She didn't look too seriously hurt, although Caleb had said she had been bleeding. She keyed her radio. "Caleb, can you run me through what injuries you found," she said, her voice quiet and professional. It would be much more efficient if he could brief her on what the problem was than if she were to just poke around and potentially cause more pain for the poor kid.

Travell looked stricken, almost as though Taft's words had been something that she was hearing for the first time. Her eyes were bleak, and, despite her regal bearing, she had the air of a defeated woman, a woman who was having to resort to desperate measures in order to hold her people together. Her Council was shattered, the planet's infrastructure in ruins, and a strike had been made at the very future of the Tollan people. It was unforgivable.

She took a thoughtful breath, about to comment on Taft's ruminations to consolidate, when the man's radio crackled, and a voice came over the airwaves.

"Sergeant Major Taft, this is Major Sona, Beta Team, in position, awaiting orders."

The zat blast hit the corpse with an uncharacteristic "thud", and the corpse disappeared from view. In its place was left a small, black slug-like thing, barely moving on the concrete. It didn't look anything much, but who knew what it was, or what it was capable of?

He pointed at Williams. "You're a weapon tech, yeah? Go to Tahirah and see if you can't widen the spread of the shot on her staff weapon. The wider the better, it's fine if it stops being a viable weapon but I want you to see if you can flood a space with energy for long enough for the eye to process. Maybe we can flush areas for the enemy, even the playing field a little."

Taft grabbed his mic instantly when he heard the blessed voice of the Major. He was still in charge, which was good for the moment. "Keep the gate open, or redial. I need to give a sit rep. Get them to toss through a couple of staffs and what you need to mod them. The enemy is unharmed, the Tollans have gained zero traction, stay wary and lock down hard. Over." He waited until he got the word that the SGC was ready to hear him and gave his report of what was going on, what they needed on the ground (medics, soldiers, and his idea for modifying the staffs, and some comm gear), and then waited to hear back about from the SGC as to how long or even if he could get any of those things.

Needing to move as swiftly as possible, Tahirah let the Zat'nikatel clatter to the ground and freed up both hands. One grabbed the tweezers, the other the bottle. "I am over here and well, Blake." She called out in response to hearing her name. Tahirah picked up the gastropod as gently as she could, a live specimen being worth more than a dead one. It would fit easily in the glass bottle, though she found herself tapping the tweezers on the edge of the opening to get the creature to unstick. It rolled its way down the inner wall of the bottle, leaving a trail. Tahirah had just tightened the lid on the top when Staff Sergeant Blake came up behind her.

Having secured the creature, Tahirah picked up her sidearm and holstered it. She stood, holding the bottle for the shorter woman to see. This was inside the corpse of one of the fallen. We need to determine if it is a local parasite or not. We may be dealing with an infestation rather than an invasion. Or worse both. I have heard of similar creatures employed by the Goa'uld as a way of weakening defenses before an assault.

Run through the injuries he found, he resisted the urge to say a whole in the young girls side, it wasn't Claire's fault this whole thing was a nightmare that was making him impatient all in one go. It wasn't anyone's fault but the whatever had caused this, it was just the helpless feeling that was getting at him, they had seemingly been stood around for such a long time – or rather what felt like a long time – with nothing really to show for it.

He had watched as there own medical duo seemed to be trying to stop the incoming tide, which was entirely impossible and knew it was only a matter of time before it swamped them under, Caleb had even seen as some of the Tollan's had tried to help. He might have been naturally outgoing in temperament the majority of the time, but this, being here right then made him quiet, it showed the soldier side of him. The side that once this was all done with, was going to have to take a moment to remember the lighter side of this job.

Keying his own radio, he replied, “She is still unconscious, bleeding has stopped now though. There is a wound on her side, about the size of a small phone, but it's not deep.” He was happy to hear Claire's voice even if it did mean they had to talk nothing but business. “Think it was caused by the rubble more than what ever the hell actually killed people.” Which he knew meant that the girl was stable for now but when the medics came over they'd have to clean it out.

He let go of his radio as he finished speaking, he wanted to say more to Claire, just speak to her as he had done before the mission, as a friend. But that wasn't the place or the time, he just had to push that part to the back of his mind and wait until this was all over, if it ever ended up being over.

Caleb nodded as Taft explained what he wanted doing, “That I am sir, I'll see what can be done with the weapon. Although, sir, maybe the Tollana people have some energy weapons on there persons as well, it could help, if they are willing to let us have them of course?”

He highly doubted the Tollan's would hand over any weapon, especially considering at the moment they probably felt the most vulnerable having had half there city reduced to ruins and then having people from Earth coming and giving orders. But it would be good if the Sergeant Major could wrangle his way to getting Caleb some of the Tollan's weapons, well he'd owe the bloke a drink that was for sure.

Caleb made his way over to Tahirah, just as let loose a shot from the Zat at what looked like a corpse. He stood there for a moment, not quite sure what it was she had been intending to do, there had always been an element of him not understanding Tahirah at times – which had one time lead to a very interesting encounter – before he stepped closer, listening to what she was saying.

He looked between the two women – realising Blake had come over at one point as well – and then between what ever the hell Tahirah was currently holding in her hand. There was a distinct disguistingness about what ever the hell Tahirah was holding, he resisted the urge to want to scrunch his nose up. There wasn't many things that could make him pull that face and this was definitely trying to be one of them times.

“So that's inside of the people here then?” he asked, making himself known. “Also I need to see your weapon Tahirah, see if we can make the energy spread wider so we can 'see' what it is. Unless you have a different theory of what it might be? Specially with that thing coming out of a person.”

There was a small part of him, the young boy that often crept up on him, that wanted to get a stick and start poking the damn thing. He didn't, whatever it was, he really didn't want to be ten feet in front of it, never mind as close as he currently was.